The key to change
by DutchLady
Summary: In the Tardis there is a room that is always locked... A short one-shot that could happen in the first episode of series 5


**This little fic came to me, while gift wrapping the first winter season presents at work (I work in a toy store, for those who didn't know). I saw a few on-set photos for series 5, and a few days later -whilest gift wrapping- a massive plot-bunny ambushed me!**

**I hope that you enjoy this.**

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The key to change

Inside the Tardis there is a room.

A room with a door that is always locked.

A room that can only be unlocked with one key.

That key is in the Doctor's possession. A key that is always buried deep inside his dimensionally transcendental pockets. He can only find it when it is the right time. And he can only find the door that the key unlocks when _that_ time is right.

The Tenth Doctor knew his days were truly numbered when, while he had been searching his pockets for a banana, he had pulled the key out. He had looked at it for a few moments, and had then stuffed the small object back in his trouser pocket. He didn't want to see it; he knew what it meant, but he didn't want to acknowledge that. If he did, it felt like that he had lost the will to fight. And if there was one thing he had been good at was fighting. Fighting against dying.

Fighting he had done… but in the end even he wasn't strong enough.

He didn't fear death, death was inevitable, but even he didn't go looking for it either. So when he felt his regeneration was coming, he didn't fight it…

*****

With his regeneration cycle complete, the Eleventh Doctor wandered through the corridors of his Tardis. He had found the key easily in his pocket, and the small object was warm in his hand. He let the Tardis guide him to the room with the locked door.

When he was about to round a corner, he spotted himself in a mirror. He looked at the young face he now had… Too young, perhaps?

Time would tell.

He continued to walk through the corridors with the Tardis guiding him; and he found himself facing the door to the wardrobe room.

For almost twenty minutes he rummaged through long racks of clothing; trying to find the right clothes, trying to find something that was 'him'.

Then he found the right clothes. Quickly he changed into them, and once again checked his reflection in the large mirror that was in a corner of the wardrobe. Black trousers, sturdy boots, a shirt, and a tweed jacket was his look now; a red bow tie completed his ensemble.

He gave himself a nod; this would do for hopefully a century or two…

He walked back to the changing rooms and picked up his predecessors clothes. The brown suit was torn, and it hurt the Eleventh Doctor to know how the brave Tenth Doctor had died; it hadn't been pleasant.

He rummaged through the pockets, trying to find the key, but scolded himself when he remembered that the key now lay on a little shelf by the door of the wardrobe room.

He neatly folded the brown suit and made his way to the door, picked up the key and with the Tardis guiding him made his way to the door.

When he had at last found it, he inserted the key, turned it, and opened the door.

He had only been in this room nine times before, making this the tenth.

He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

Facing him were ten mannequins. On nine of them, the clothes that his first nine selves had worn were displayed. The tenth was still bare…

Almost reverently he put the clothes of the tenth Doctor on the mannequin. The white converse, he placed on a little pedestal in front of the mannequin.

He reached into the pocket and extracted the psychic paper and the sonic screwdriver, and put it in his own.

He took a few steps back, and looked at the mannequins displayed in front of him.

He hoped that he could do them proud.

He turned at the left the room. He locked the door and put the key in his pocket. He felt the small key slip down and down.

He smiled.

One day, he would find it again…

Let's go and see what the universe had it store for him…

**Author note: I always wondered what the Doctor would do to the clothes that his earlier selves had worn, and seeing Matt Smith in the Tenth Doctor's suit was the push I needed to write this. I would love a scene like this.**

**Please leave a review to let me know what you think.**


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